I haven’t been bored in years. That doesn’t mean that there haven’t been moments when I haven’t wandered around, looking for something to do. I have. Several times. That wasn’t boredom. Each and every time I have wandered around aimlessly, I had lots to do. LOTS. That was the problem. I had lots to do and I didn’t want to do any of it. I wasn’t bored. I was looking for a way to forget the fact that I had other things to do. After years of searching, I have yet to discover a way to make all that “stuff” disappear.
I noticed, at some point, that I was getting stressed. Once I recognized that, I realized the stress was caused from NOT doing what I know I needed to do. Usually (though not always), I would then start doing at least some of the things I know I needed to do. I discovered a really odd thing: Once I did what I know I needed to do, my stress level decreased!
What an odd idea. Could stress be associated with the fact that I had procrastinated on some project? No… That couldn’t happen, could it?

Guess what?

I wondered, sometimes, if that is the source of a lot of stress that people claim to have. From what I have been able to see, people procrastinate. People procrastinate on a lot of “stuff”. They also complain about not having enough time and about not being able to do what they want to do. If my experience is any indication, I wondered, just wondering, mind you, if the “not having enough time” is a product of doing something other than what we are supposed to do?
Maybe I need to clean house or mow the yard. I know it needs to be done, but I read a book. Or I talk on the phone. Or maybe watch television or go out with friends. I enjoy what I am doing while I do it, but there is that little nagging voice in the back of my head (the little voice that sounds as if it is being smothered by a pillow!) that is trying to remind me that I need to do some work around the house. Later, when at the end of the day, the house isn’t cleaned and the yard isn’t mowed and my stress level has increased. I wail that “I don’t have enough time!!!”

Once I tried a really radical experiment: I did what I was supposed to do, when I was supposed to do it. I wasn’t happy, but I did it in the name of science. I wanted to see what would happen.

:::::sigh:::::


Would you believe the strangest thing happened? The next week went by smoothly! The work was done, I could do other things, even fun things I wanted to do! I didn’t even feel guilty about having fun. What a concept!!!

Having seen the results of that part of the experiment, I wanted to complete the experiment. I returned to my former behavior. Would you believe? The stress increased and I had less time.

I need to think about the outcome of this experiment. I think there is something important here – but I will think about what it all means later, after I watch television.

Some of you know I teach.  Last night I was teaching a course in MS Office to a group of students who want to major in criminal justice.  Many of them look at the computer as something vaguely akin to a booby trap.  They may know how to IM and text message, but beyond that, many of them have minimal skills.  For this course, I am not so much trying to teach them some of the finer points of Word or Excel as much as I try to get them familiar with such odd, esoteric concepts as naming files, saving files, searching for documents,  that kind of thing.  You know: calculus and astrophysics....  hard stuff.... 

I know, to the vast majority of MindSay bloggers, these things are so familiar.  Not to my students - at least not in this class.  I have one student, admittedly the slowest in this particular group, who can't grasp the concept of creating a free e-mail account on Yahoo.  We have spent at least two hours on that.  I haven't the vaguest idea what she is doing wrong, except to think that she is not copying down EXACTLY what she records.  I suspect she creates her user name and password, writes them down, but enters something slightly different into the boxes.  Whatever it is she is doing, she has yet to be able to access any account she has created.  She has tried this at least twice to my knowledge.  Who knows how many times that I don't know.

Then again, she was searching for a file and "I swear to you I saved that file, but I can't find it."  When I asked her to show me what she did, she couldn't remember exactly.  I got her to the file menu, had her click on "Save As" and when the dialog box materialized, she stated "What's that?  I haven't seen that before." ....  Ok.. folks, this is the eighth week of the course.....  Is there such a thing as a virtual double Scotch????  [For the voyeurs in the group -- I finally figured out that she was "saving" an Excel workbook.  She managed to change the name of the tab -- and thought that meant she changed the name of the workbook. She then closed the workbook.
She was not happy to discover she had to redo the entire project......]

She, however, is not the main reason for this blog.

My supervisor and I agreed a long time ago that I wasn't going to worry about a lot of technicalities.  These are new students, so I was emphasizing saving files and creating an e-mail account and teaching them how to send files via e-mail.

The class is having a test tomorrow (Thursday).  I have told them that they **must** send me their computer work via e-mail attachment.  We have worked on this for about three weeks.  I am not being pushy here.  I have also announced that for at least the last week, if not longer. No pop surprise test questions here.

Last night, I was talking to a student about the fact that she hasn't given me some of her assignments.  She gave me her flash drive and I asked if she wouldn't rather practice sending me the files in e-mail.  She blew up.   She said she didn't know how to do it.  I told her that I would help her, it wasn't that hard (for most of us, anyway...)  I started to help, when she turned to me and looked me straight in the eye and said "F*** You". 

Ok,...  I know she might be a little afraid, but, really now.....

As the teacher, I can't allow that, so I told her that was inappropriate and not acceptable behavior.  I told her that the behavior would not be repeated in my class, otherwise I would have her removed from class. To which she replied "This isn't high school any more."    She didn't repeat anything unrepeatable, but the language was there, just peering out behind every pore, every syllable.   I then left her to complete the ubiquitous paperwork on the incident.  By that time, class was over and she slid out the door.

Ok.. People have sworn at me before and they probably will again.  That isn't my concern. 

The part that replays in my head is the "This isn't high school any more."

"This isn't high school any more."    ????????  What, pray tell, does that mean?

Does she think that basic rules of civility and manners are some kind of sophomoric high school activity?  That adults commonly talk to each other in syllables of four letters?  Part of the answer to that last question must be yes, which then gets me wondering about the complete environment in which she maneuvers.  The home live is one issue I won't even begin to touch.  What about, however, her work environment?  Does her work place allow such language?  If she is aware that most places look less than fondly on such behavior, then is she unable to control it, sometimes?  What is her future going to be like if she doesn't know how to express herself in some language a bit more appropriate? 

Some of you remember I said this was a class of students who wanted to enter the criminal justice field.  I have NO idea how she thinks she will be able to enter a court room with that kind of an attitude.  I am guessing she is about 22 - 25 years old.  If she has lived in her environment so long that she considers that behavior normal ... 

I can't help but wonder about ALL the other adults in her life. 

My guess is that my paperwork will get to the Director of Education and he will "talk" to her.  He can't have students swearing at teachers.  She, at least I guess, will have a few words to say to him, at which point, she will be history.  Maybe she will have time to think and hold her tongue.  How long will it be before she expresses those emotions? The next time won't be easier on her.  I have no doubt there will be a "next time".   I am concerned she will be out of school, be turned off on school as "all that high school stuff"  and a good opportunity for showing her another avenue will be gone.

high school?    :::sigh:::

I guess high school is somewhat stricter than I thought. 

Some of you thought teaching was easy, didn't you??

If anybody can figure out a way of getting all the water out of my yard and into some drought-striken area, he or she is welcome to all the water in my yard. 

Remember Ernesto?  Well, it started raining, a little bit, before he whized through.  Ernesto wasn't the rain-maker I thought he would be -- but it has rained... No, poured .. every day since then.  I planned on mowing the yard Labor Day weekend.  No luck.  There is still standing water in the yard.  If I can't get to mow next weekend, I may no longer be able to see my dogs when they go outside -- assuming, of course, that it is dry enough that they would wonder in the tall grass. 

The dogs are now trained to look UP when they go outside.  My little male dog does NOT like getting his feet wet.  He does not like going outside when the ground is squishy and yukky and more like a swamp than a yard. 
I don't even know why I bother to sweep the house.  Well, maybe I do know - to try to keep ahead of all the sand and dirt that seems to come through the walls.  I can't believe how dirty laundry can be when I don't even do anything because it is raining when I am not working!!!!

I just read a blog from VelvetDreams about how busy she has been since she started school. Just remember folks, the teacher does at least as much work as you do.  At least the teachers who actually read your homework!
This quarter, I have a class in Microsoft Office.  I swear, some of my students are still stuck on saving files...  I have one student who hasn't yet mastered the task of getting a free e-mail account...  She is afraid of the computer and I haven't been able to get her over that fear.  She is failing the course (no surprise), but that only feeds into her negative feelings.  I have a feeling that this is one student who I am not going to be able to reach.  I wish it were otherwise, but ....

Oh well....  Let me see if I can help VelvetDreams with her algebra.....